The hope of three Tanzanians redeeming a $3 million lottery prize in Ghana was dashed when they realised rather late that they had been defrauded.

Ms Rasalia Rutakosa, her husband, Mr Andochius Mukolozi, an insurance broker, and her brother-in-law, Mr Milton Bwemo, a marketer, did not only lose out on the $3-million winning prize but also allegedly paid $20,000 to the kingpin of the cheats.

Four Nigerians, suspected to be behind the lottery scam have been arrested and are in custody pending further investigations.

They are Roger Prince Enoh, alias George Anderson, 43, the ringleader; Alex Johnson Ladipo, 40, driver; Emmanuel Ekpo, 42, and Eric Bello, who claims to be a public relations officer.

Superintendent Dennis Abade of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service told the Daily Graphic after the arrest of the suspects that Enoh operated the Afro Resources Interbiz Ghana Limited, located at West Legon, which the suspect claims is a brokerage firm with speciality in facilitating agricultural trade.

He said Ms Rutakosa received an e-mail from someone who identified himself as David Johnson of the United Kingdom, informing her that she had won a lottery worth $3 million.

He said David referred Ms Rutakosa to Anderson to collect the prize money. Supt Abade said when Ms Rutakosa contacted Anderson, she was asked to come to Ghana with $25,000 to cover the cost of handling and transfer.

He said the complainants claimed that on September 19, 2006, they paid $20,000 to Anderson, after which Ms Rutakosa was made to sign a document purporting to be from the Bank of Ghana (BoG). According to him, the complainants were asked to pay the balance of $5,000 on September 25, 2006.

He said instead of the original arrangement that the $3 million would be given to the winner of the lottery, Ms Rutakosa, Anderson allegedly told her that security officials at the Kotoka International Airport would not allow any person to carry such an amount through the airport.

Supt Abade said Anderson, who claimed to be the managing director of Sky Lottery, which the police said was non-existent, requested for Ms Rutakosa’s bank account number and a passport picture to enable him to transfer the money into the account.

He said the complainants became suspicious at the turn of events and allegedly went to the BoG to verify the genuineness of the document which Ms Rutakosa had been made to sign.

Supt Abade said it was at the BoG Head Office that the complainants were informed that the document was fake and accordingly advised them to seek police assistance.

He said the four suspects were arrested when the police raided their offices. Supt Abade appealed to members of the public to avoid engaging in such fictitious deals, particularly when they knew they had not staked any lottery.

The principal suspect, Enoh, however, told the police that he collected only $3,400 from the complainants.